"horrible"...?

Very sweet! They enjoy it! They are also extremely dangerous now and could bite your head off. It's a double edged sword in that they're very cool but perhaps DANGEROUSLY cool now

I'd say this is a pretty neat new look. A blessing, in my eyes.

VERY good! Agreed-
It's actually based on a little writing I did with a friend- a character of theirs who was designed as a synthetic servant, with a body as cutesy as one would expect for such a thing- which caused them great discomfort to being seen as such.

Houndstooth turning them into a huge, parasitic bug monster- ferocious, bestial- is an escape from that. Going from a designed-to-be-harmless creature to one that inspires fear and awe as a kind of- empowering new form. Akin to some werewolf stories that explore characters being empowered by it, despite it being a 'horrible monster'. Playing up that can just be part of the newfound freedom.